


Apples are Berries

by TammyReadsFics



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Gen, Originally bedtime musing, can be read romantic, have fun! I did!, no betas we die like men, not written as romance but you do you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-22 15:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22485283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TammyReadsFics/pseuds/TammyReadsFics
Summary: This is a short fic written over the span of a single day, caused by one late night musing. The ideas that caused this fic are as follows1) Hop and protag have been friends for unspecified but presumed extended time2) Hop has had his Wooloo for a while3) Hey, wouldn’t it be cute it Hop gave the protagonist an Applin? /)*0*(\ what if it were SHINY!So yeah. Babies and Applin.
Relationships: Hop & Yuuri | Gloria
Comments: 10
Kudos: 16





	Apples are Berries

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BloomingMiracle (Luna264)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luna264/gifts).



> Gifted to my lovely sibling, Ace (aka BloomingMiraculous) because we both wrote this idea and y’all should absolutely check out their version too! Also Gloria calling her mother mom instead of mum was me being American and forgetting, but hey, I think I made it work in story.

Gloria was five when dad quietly told her and mom that they had to move to mom’s home town. Dad couldn’t come, he said. It wasn’t safe.

Years later, she would find out that he had delayed an apocalypse in a less than strictly legal move, and Chairman Rose had gotten him arrested over it. She would find no further records of him. She’d feel sad that she never really got to know him, but since she hardly remembered him beyond warm arms and a pat on the head, and a quiet, desperate voice begging her mother to get to safety, she wouldn’t feel the grief associated with losing a family member.

But in the meantime, she was five, and mom was trying to introduce her to someone called Granny, who they were ‘moving in’ with. Gloria didn’t know this Granny person, so she hid shyly behind mom’s legs and stared with wide eyes at Granny’s frizzy white hair and multitude of wrinkles.

“Oh, she’s just as shy as you were at that age!” Granny cooed. “I’m sure she’ll warm up to me in a day or too, Robin.” Granny patted mom’s cheek affectionately.

Mom sighed, in what sounded like relief. “I’m glad, mum. I’m worried she’s be ostracized around here again. She always calls me ‘mom’ like Hilbert calls his mother, and her old classmates up north weren’t too kind about that.”

“Well, little Hop, you know, Beth’s younger son, he’s in desperate need of a friend his age, and he’s the only other five year old in town.” Granny said. “I’m sure they’ll get along great, luv.”

“Beth has at least two sons? I missed the fact that she was married!” Mom said. “Oh, and we were best friends when we were younger.” She put a hand against her cheek and looked down, but not at Gloria, Gloria didn’t think she was looking at anything.

“Lax!” Mom’s munchlax, Fatso, demanded.

“Oh, yes, it is snack time, isn’t it, Fatso?” Mom murmured. “Alright, let’s find your food.”

* * *

Gloria liked the new house, her room was easy to find, and right next to the kitchen, which meant that Fatso would sometimes cuddle with her at night, when the Slumbering Weld made weird noises. Why a weld, whatever that was, would be asleep, she didn’t want to know, but apparently it was, and she wasn’t allowed to go there.

After a week, mom took her to the house down the way, the only other house on the main road, which Gloria thought was a little weird, but all the farms nearby were cool.

A boy was playing fetch with a Wooloo in the yard, giggling happily every time it rolled over him trying to return the ball. “Bounce!” He said. “Good boy! Fetch again!”

A woman came out of the house, and called out, “Hop, we have guests coming! I told you to get cleaned up, not roll in the dirt!”

“Is Lee coming home?” The boy said, before getting buried in rolling wool again.

“He’s on his gym challenge, Hop, I don’t expect him home until he drops out or wins.” The woman said.

“Then I don’t care!” The boy declared, still under his Pokémon friend.

“Hop,” the woman said. “Oh! Luv, when’d you arrive? I hope you weren’t waiting too long, Robin, ms. Seaman, and...this would be your Gloria then?”

Gloria hid behind her mother’s legs, clutching tight to the overalls her mother had been wearing since they left home and dad.

“Yes, she is.” Mom sounded like she was trying not to laugh. “Your Hop seems like quite a handful.”

“I’m just glad his brother gave him that Wooloo, so he has something to focus on beyond missing Leon.” The woman said. “Hello, Gloria, I’m Beth. I’m a friend of your mother’s.” She smiled broadly and held out a hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Well, ms. Granny and mom seemed to be friends, and ms. Granny was nice—she made Gloria her favorite Lum oatmeal every day—so maybe ms. Beth was nice too? 

She looked up at mom, who nodded. “She’s safe, I promise.”

Gloria nodded back and took ms. Beth’s hand. “Nice to meet you,” She said, quietly.

After being introduced, ms. Beth brought the boy over. Gloria didn’t much like other kids her age, especially boys; who tugged on her hair and said she couldn’t even pronounce things right when she  _ did, _ just not the way they were used to. This one looked like he’d be just like the worst of the lot, clearly annoyed to be talking to a girl. “Mum, I was trainin Bounce!” He complained.

“You can train Bounce later, Hop.” Ms. Beth said. “For now, meet Gloria, she’s about the same age as you.”

“Huh?” The boy said, and turned to look at Gloria, who hid behind mom again. “Wow! I didn’t know there was anyone else my age in the whole  _ world _ ! I’m Hop, nice t’meecha!”

Gloria blinked. This wasn’t how boys normally acted, even when first meeting them. “H—hi, Hop.” She said. “I’m—my name is Gloria.”

He grabbed her hand and shook it vigorously. “Wanna come play with me and Bounce? That’s my Wooloo! My big brother caught Bounce just for me, but you can play with us too, if you want!”

Gloria stared at Hop. “You mean it?” She whispered.

“Uh huh!” He nodded. “C’mon!”

“Okay!”

* * *

Hop and Gloria were fast friends, and soon could be seen running all over Postwick and sometimes even down the route to the next town, linked by the hands, with Bounce rolling alongside them.

When they were eight, Hop decided that Gloria should have a Pokémon that was all hers. “Your mum has Fatso, and your Granny’s Budews, but you don’t have a Pokémon that’s  _ yours _ , so I’m going to catch you one! Lee left some unused Pokeballs under his bed last time he came by—“ Gloria nodded, remembering this. Lee had made it sound like he was leaving them in the off chance a trainer nearby ran out of them, or otherwise didn’t have any, and Hop was technically a trainer, and he had no Pokeballs, so it should count, besides, they wouldn’t take more than three, and they’d return what they didn’t use. “—so I can catch a Pokémon for you! If you want.”

“Okay.” Gloria said. “I’d love a Pokémon. I’m going to name them Lum.”

“Lum are awful berries!” Hop giggled. “C’mon, let’s go to that tall grass on the route! If we’re lucky maybe I can battle a gym challenger, or a traveling trainer!” He grabbed her by the hand again, holding the empty Pokeball, with Bounce’s pokeball on his belt as always, and they started off.

Just outside of the tall grass, a green apple rolled, covered in scratches and bruises. An almost equally green tail poked out and wrapped around it, and a growling nickit was stalking it.

“Bounce, use tackle!” Hop ordered, and the Wooloo rolled out at its trainer’s command. The nickit yelped and ran off. “Aww, I couldn’t get you the nickit, sorry, mate.”

“‘Sokay.” Gloria promised. “I think this little apple’s a Pokémon. And hurt.”

“Ah, then we better get it to the center!” Hop said. “Here, get in this and we can help you!” He held a pokeball out to the apple, which lifted an eye to watch him nervously. “It’s okay, mate, we just wanna get you some… Gloria how do I say it?”

“Medic call attention.” Gloria answered, primly. “Please?”

The apple’s tail tapped the ball, and it turned to light, getting sucked in. The apple had just enough time to look distressed by this before disappearing.

The two children turned around to leave the grassy area and run to the Pokémon center. There mothers were already both there, asking if nurse Joy had seen them.

“Not today, they haven’t—oh! There you two rapscallions are!” Joy said. “That’s not your Wooloo’s pokeball, Hop, what is it?”

“I was gunna have Bounce fight a wild Pokémon so I could catch it for Gloria, but this one’s hurt! So I caught it to bring to you! I still want it to be Gloria’s Pokémon but I don’t know how you can heal wild Pokémon!” Hop babble.

“Please?” Gloria added, again, as Hop held up the pokeball.

“Alright, it’ll be just a couple of seconds, then.” Joy said, gingerly taking the pokeball, and putting it in the healing machine. “What the—?” She muttered, looking at the monitor.

Gloria blinked, seeing the floating screen as only trainers can for their own Pokémon.

“Where’d you find her?” Joy asked, handing the ball back to Hop, who immediately presented it to Gloria.

“Here! And I found her on the route, being hurt by a nickit!” Hop declared. “I forgot to do the nickname thing, I’m sorry Gloria. I know you wanted to name your first Pokémon Lum.”

“I can edit that for you.” The man behind the left counter said. “What type of Pokémon is that, by the way.”

“Um?” Gloria and Hop both shrugged. “Green.”

“Hop, Gloria, you not only managed to stumbled across a Pokémon that isn’t normally found this far south, but is rare in its native habitats  _ and _ is shiny.” Joy said. “They found an Arceus blessed  _ Applin, _ for Hop to give her.”

Gloria held up the pokeball to the left-counter-man. “I wanna name my Pokémon Lum.” She repeated. 

“We are not telling them the legend.” Mom whispered to Hop’s mum.

“Not until they ask.” Hop’s mum replied. “And are both older than 15.”

The left-counter-man edited something. “She doesn’t seem too happy in her pokeball, but your Applin is now officially named Lum.”

Gloria let Lum out of her Pokeball, and the green apple Pokémon landed on her head, perching there and wrapping her tail like a princess crown over Gloria’s hair. Gloria tugged shyly at her braid—getting too long, especially for postwick summer, which was right around the corner, she’d have to get it cut soon—at all the attention Lum brought her. “So, I can keep her, right?”

“Of course, dear.” Mom said. “Joy, Applin eat the same food as most other grasstypes, right?”

“The carnivorous ones, yes.” Joy agreed. “I’ll mark that more be added to your next shipment, and some dragon type treats.”

“Lum’s a dragon type?” Gloria and Hop both asked, excitedly.

“She is!” Joy assured them, beaming in that ‘I am explaining something to a curious child’ way. “A grass and dragon type, and you don’t have to worry about her getting any bigger for a long while.”

“Okay!” Gloria said.

“And here’s a book on care and feeding of dragon types, normally we charge for it, but this is an Applin that your best friend gave you, so this time it’s free.” Joy said. “Take good care of Lum, alright?”

“I will!” Gloria chirped.

Hop screeched, pointing at the clock. “Lee’s match!” He said. “We can’t miss Lee’s match! Mum, Gloria, come on!”

* * *

Gloria and Lum were a great team, and trained against Hop and Bounce a lot. When Leon the Champion—Lee who was Hop’s brother, brought them their official starters, it turned out that Lum was already level 15! A great level, considering they only ever had battled Hop so far, and all their preferred play-times didn’t give Lum more XP.

Leon was hesitant to endorse the two young trainers, but he did, and their journey truly began.

* * *

When Gloria was finally defeated as the Champion, at nearly age 50–there were adults that didn’t remember Leon’s reign, or the darkest day—the first this she did was go straight to Hop and Sonia’s lab, and let Lum—long since a Flapple—announce her arrival. “So,” she said. “How about Kanto, for a vacation?”

Hop grinned, his familiar wrinkles crinkling merrily. “Oh, for my old bones? It’s gotta be the Orange Islands or Alola, Glor.”

“You’re still babies compared to me.” Sonia said. “But if you’re going to the tropics, I’d like a better look at the corsola from other regions. We could get paid to go.”

“Genius.”

**Author's Note:**

> I will be the first to say that this isn’t my best work but Ace and I challenged each other to write this fic when I told them before school this morning, so, considering it’s the work of a day and short stories are not really my forte, I’m proud of it. Hope you all enjoyed! *does a Wooloo roll away*


End file.
